


Handsome and beautiful

by Zinae



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coping, Family, Friendship, Gen, Memories, Self-Acceptance, Self-Esteem Issues, bonding moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 07:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12452643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zinae/pseuds/Zinae
Summary: Lance has always known that he was not a "handsome" boy. Or man, after all these years.





	Handsome and beautiful

Lance has always known that he was not a "handsome" boy. Or man, after all these years.

As a child, and teenager, he had been too sharp, too lanky, to long limbs, too awkward movements, too thin and maybe too stupid.

He had hated himself at some point. And today he will admit this only under torture.

But yes. He was a child who had too high expectations of himself and paid with his confidence.

It's his elder sister who reaches out and picks him up.

He is thirteen, when she drags him into her room, sits down with him and puts on his first face mask, quietly explaining what it does and what he might want to look out for.

She tells him that while he is not handsome in the classical way he is still good looking in a way most might not understand. She tells him how to make people look at him. In a positive way of course. She tells him that he is beautiful.

Later he stands in front of his mirror and marvels at how pretty and glowing his skin is and how nice to the touch.

Lance pretty much falls in love with beauty products and he puts time and money into his search of the right brands for himself. He also learns how to do every routine by himself, but his sister makes them into some kind of brother-sister-bonding-time-sleepover-thing. Their mother joins sometimes, sometimes their younger siblings gather around them and they paint nails, braid hair and giggle about edible face masks, but most times they are alone and Lance prefers it like this.

Time passes, his sister moves out, marries. But they never forget and always stay close.

Sharp angles are smoothed out by his grace, he grows into his long limbs. He stays thin, no matter how much he tries to gain either weight or muscle. And he compensates with what he leaned. His skin glows, his eyes sparkle, he learns every way of flirting he can and most importantly?

He cares.

If he can't charm with wit and jokes, then he draws you in with kindness and accepting wide arms and a smile.

But with time every boy learns that for whatever reason, girls like bad boys more.

He tries, fails, crashes, burns.

And he stands back up.Tries again. Changes.

He puts even more work into his looks and at some point it becomes a comfort. It becomes his armor of confidence, together with the flirting.

With his sister leaving his mother and grandmother take over and they bond again, becoming closer that he ever thought possible. He holds onto it when he leaves for the Garisson and even though he gets teased for it, he always, always continues.

Voltron is a dream.

He is a hero, he can protect the people he cares about, but soon he realizes that he looks different, his "armor" a little bit worn and he panics.

Hours later he is sitting in his room, surrounded by products whose names he can't read and he somehow manages to figure out how to use what. His lion, gorgeous, kind Blue, might have helped.

Somehow he gets himself back to normal.

It's not the same as back home, but he has to make do. These are not his brands, he is not quite comfortable. But he needs the routines more than anything now because somehow, with every day, they become more than his armor, confidence, comfort or whatever.

They become his last connection to his family back at home.

To the bond he shares with them. To the memories, because in those few minutes he remembers his sisters soft hands, his brothers snickers, his father's exasperation and his mothers kindness. In those few moments he still remembers what they look like, because otherwise some details somehow slip his mind.

He uses his beauty routines as a straw in an ocean and it somehow works, but barely.

It's lonely.

But he deals with it.

So please imagine his surprise at the knock on his door one evening and imagine his surprise when it's Allura, arms full of tubes, boxes and other stuff, ready for a bonding night. Imagine his face when she tells him that he is pretty much her last hope at doing something like that because Pidge fled the second they had the chance.

And now imagine his smile.

Because in this moment he remembers his sister clearly because for a second he sees her in Allura.

**Author's Note:**

> Something short and self-indulgent and a little bit of a implied character study.  
> I felt like it. Also, I wrote this ages ago and i like it :D


End file.
